Dr Who in 6mm: More Dinosaurs.....and Triffids!

Well, having thoroughly enjoyed putting together some Pre-Historic enemies for the doctor to tackle at the end of last year, I was itching to add a few more types into the mix, and began casting around for some possible candidates.

Sometimes you find the best things in the strangest of places, and I think that I can say that this definitely was the case when I happened upon the Dinosaur range from QRF.

Rightly renowned for their 15mm figures, I was surprised to find that they also do some great Pre-Historic monsters, and also some suitably menacing evil plant life!

The Dinos can be found here:

http://quickreactionforce.co.uk/catalog/index.php/cPath/140

and the carnivorous plants are lurking amidst the 15mm Sci-Fi:

http://quickreactionforce.co.uk/catalog/index.php/cPath/24_55_347

The dinosaurs offer some really interesting types at very reasonable prices, so I invested in some baby Plateosaurus, some quadra-ped Placerias, and the giant Phytosaur.

The Phytosaur, TR07, can be seen below, a mean looking crocodilian type that weighs in at around 53mm long, so could play well as even a 15mm or larger crocodile for all those 'back of beyond' or Pulp games:

From menace we move to cuteness, with the TR06 Plateosaurus young, that provides you with eight of the little fellers for just Uk £2.00; sweet aren't they:

Or are they, how about a horde of them engulfing you, all at once?

Yes, never turn your back on a dinosaur! I'm hoping to put these alongside some scratch-built nest sites with eggs made from modelling clay.

Moving slightly away from the obviously reptilian, I also bought some TR02 Placerias, which Wikipedia has down as a form of hybrid mammal, perhaps an ancestor of the modern Hippopotamus:

I found a great image of how these may of looked:

http://critters.pixel-shack.com/WebImages/crittersgallery/Placerias1.jpg

From a brilliant set of recreations online, invaluable if you're looking for inspiration on those Dino colour schemes!

http://critters.pixel-shack.com/GalleryP.htm

I think if you could get hold of some suitable riders or smaller scale Howdahs, these would make great Fantasy beasts as an alternative to the more usual Elephant/Mumakil.

Next, what could these constituent metal parts be? mmh, let's see, base with tendril-like legs, large, hooded flower head, and a vicious looking stinger.....

Yes, be afraid, be very afraid, it's a 'not' Triffid, to whit the SF10 Tripedium Linguatam (Stinging Type)!

These come in a pack of four, with two slightly different base sizes, again, as with the crocodilians above, could be used alongside any number of scales/size of minis, depending on how big and dangerous you want them:

Yes, I like mine very big and dangerous:

Obviously, these are not strictly canon if deployed as Triffids, but to be honest, who could resist? I loved the John Wyndham book, was a massive (if petrified) fan of the BBC TV adaptation starring John Duttine back in 1981, and well, suffered through the various Big Screen film versions, as well as the recent BBC remake......maybe draw a veil over that one......

A quick introduction, for those of you who have no idea what I'm on about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x0rdtAv9jg

Believe me, truly terrifying when they get going, although admittedly a little slow in the perambulatory sense!

So, more to play around with here, and hopefully February will see some painted examples appearing - far too much bare lead on this Blog recently, something I hope to correct in the near future!

Dr Who in 6mm: Dino Invasion Part II

Something stirs in the quiet of the English Home Counties; whether evil intent as part of a diabolical master plan, or merely the quirk of the mysteries of Time itself, who can say?

Market day in the town of Lower Throckmorton is about to witness the Invasion of the Dinosaurs!

A pastoral scene; the inhabitants of Lower Throckmorton gather on a Saturday morning and go about their usual business.

The suddenly, something appears at the end of the lane - can it really be?

"Look there, there I tell you, run, run for your lives!"

A scatter of panicking feet leads only to an encounter with more of the giant, fearsome creatures:

Then truly, amidst screams of fear, the hunt begins!

"Flee you fools, while you still can! Who can save us now?"

U.N.I.T. arrives on the scene:

"What do you mean the Brigadier wants us to hold fire until you can see the whites of their eyes, it's the whites of their teeth that I'm worried about!"

"This is a job for the Doctor....."

"Hmm, fascinating, do you think they'd like a JellyBaby?"

Finally, U.N.I.T. Heavy Weapons engage, and the strange prehistoric invaders are vanquished. Yet how did they come from out of the mists of Time in the first place, and who or what caused them to appear........?

A bit of photographic fun, then, with the dinosaur miniatures last seen in their unpainted state.

I found the trio of 10mm types from Pendraken the easiest to paint, in that their sculpts were nice and knobbly allowing for some grandiose dry-brushing rather than any detailed painting being required.

The smoother offerings from Magister Militum were a bit tougher on my limited painting skills, but as you paint them, you begin to appreciate the detail in terms of sculpted tooth and claw that they have managed to put into these; truly some great little monsters!

Dr Who in 6mm: Invasion of the Dinosaurs

I remember fondly, many moons ago, at the twilight of the John Pertwee era of the BBC series Dr Who, watching some episodes that absolutely terrified me. Young as I was, I suppose it was quite an impressionable age, but the life-like and realistic depictions of terrible monsters roaming the streets of a deserted London left a great impression on my mind.

Having come, then, to rather a stalemate in my search for suitable enemy proxy figures to expand my vision of recreating Dr Who with 6mm miniatures, I decided to fall back on this unique addition to the hall of TV monster adversaries.

This post then, will see me looking at some of the available minis, and how they might take their place alongside the Sontarans, U.N.I.T. and the Daleks.

For those of you unaware of the original episodes, or for those who were there first time around, but have memories faded by later, inferior movies, I present to you a Fan tribute posted by someone on YouTube, which should explain all.....Cringe with terror, then, and be amazed at the special effects as you view the Invasion of the Dinosaurs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlZnFUn72VQ

If you have recovered from the shock, let's move on with looking at some minis. I was aware that Magister Militum have an interesting range of metal dinosaurs, but was rather put off by the price, as well as the fact that their scale/size is mainly a little large for 6mm purposes. A trawl through their catalogue, however, came up with some likely contenders:

http://www.navigatorminiatures.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=939&strPageHistory=cat

Firstly, let's look at their DIN109 Gasosaurus, from their Menacing Monsters range:

This is a lovely sculpt of a suitably menacing biped, with hints of a junior T-Rex about it; some great looking teeth, too! The models are made at 1/160th scale, and come with a nice set of written details as to the historical animal, as well as a 40x20mm base made of hard, smooth plastic. This particular model retails at UK £2.00, so won't break the bank either, standing at around 22mm tall, and 34mm long.

Next up, influenced of course by the villains of Jurassic Park, I decided on the raptor-like DIN008, pack of Deinonychus, which provides five of the slavering beasts, with outstretched claws and......oh, I just realised the list of info on the pack describes them as herbivorous dinos!

Oh, well, a little poetic license, methinks.....

These come in at 14mm tall, and 24mm nose to tail, and retail at £3.00 for the five.

Now a comparison shot of the two types together:

Next, let's see how these monsters will look when let loose on some terrified civilians; the Gasosaurus:

Then the Deinonychus:

Of course, these tidy looking beasts were not enough to satisfy my desire for carnage creating Pre-historic behemoths, so I decide to go up a scale for some truly titanic creatures!

As always, costs reared their ugly head, (Rather like the SFX budget on the original series) so I opted for the very reasonable mixed pack of 10mm Dinosaurs available from Pendraken:

http://www.pendraken.co.uk/sub%20page/accessories.htm

These are tucked away in their Fantasy Accessories range, under AC11, 3 dinos for £3.00!

I received one mean looking Allosaur type:

and a pair of spiny Stegosauri:

I'm not sure if there are more models available as the pack comes ready-mixed, but I was quite satisfied with these at the price.

There are some casting glitches and pitting visible on these 10mm sculpts, but nothing to detract from the model, really......let's look at them up against some more 6mm mobile lunc....I mean civilians:

The Allosaurus type stands an impressive 35mm tall and 54mm nose to tail, whilst the Stegosaurus is 24mm by 49mm.

Finally, let's see the contenders lined up together; I don't fancy the human's chances much, do you?

I will of course be putting brush to mini in the near future, so look out for some Dino themed action coming your way soon....for now, let's end with some atmospheric acting and pre-historic terror in another YOUTube clip of the original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0JM86aGKlk

TTFN!